Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Submit your manuscript through SAGETRACK

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Communication Research
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Vishwanath, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Comparing Online Information Effects

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Online Information and Uncertainty Avoidance

Arun Vishwanath

avishy{at}buffalo.edu

Despite the global reach of the Internet, extant cross-cultural research is limited to examining the uses and users of the medium rather than the effects of information presented within it.T he current exploratory study investigates the effects of differing information on participants within a standardizedWeb site across three cultures: Germany, Japan, and the United States.T he findings reveal a significant interaction between culture, information, and uncertainty avoidance.Online interactants in high uncertainty-avoidance cultures such as Japan seem to exhibit drastic behavioral changes when faced with limited information within an ambiguous decision context as compared to similar participants in Germany and the United States.T he overall findings are consistent with Hofstede’s (1984, 1991, 2001) perspective on culture and uncertainty avoidance.

Key Words: online auctions • eBay • information effects • uncertainty • avoidance • cross-cultural differences • Hofstede

Communication Research, Vol. 30, No. 6, 579-598 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/0093650203257838
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Qualitative InquiryHome page
D. Tutt
Where the Interaction Is: Collisions of the Situated and Mediated in Living Room Interactions
Qualitative Inquiry, October 1, 2008; 14(7): 1157 - 1179.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Journal of Social and Personal RelationshipsHome page
L. K. Knobloch
The content of relational uncertainty within marriage
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, June 1, 2008; 25(3): 467 - 495.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 New Media SocietyHome page
C. E. Beaudoin and C.-C. Tao
Modeling the impact of online cancer resources on supporters of cancer patients
New Media Society, April 1, 2008; 10(2): 321 - 344.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Journal of Cross-Cultural PsychologyHome page
R. M. Sorrentino, J. B. Nezlek, S. Yasunaga, S. Kouhara, Y. Otsubo, and P. Shuper
Uncertainty Orientation and Affective Experiences: Individual Differences Within and Across Cultures
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, March 1, 2008; 39(2): 129 - 146.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 HEALTH PROMOT INTHome page
C. E. Beaudoin
HIV prevention in sub-Saharan Africa: a multilevel analysis of message frames and their social determinants
Health Promot. Int., September 1, 2007; 22(3): 198 - 206.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 New Media SocietyHome page
A. J. Flanagin
Commercial markets as communication markets: uncertainty reduction through mediated information exchange in online auctions
New Media Society, June 1, 2007; 9(3): 401 - 423.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Social Science Computer ReviewHome page
L. Robinson
Online Art Auctions a la Francaise and a l'Americaine: eBay France and eBay USA
Social Science Computer Review, November 1, 2006; 24(4): 426 - 444.
[Abstract] [PDF]